


Euryale

by YellowAndVeritablyBonaFide



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Euryale - Freeform, Fluff, M/M, Medusa - Freeform, Protective Arthur, Worried Merlin, gorgons, negotiating Merlin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-15
Updated: 2019-10-15
Packaged: 2021-01-13 14:12:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21047591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YellowAndVeritablyBonaFide/pseuds/YellowAndVeritablyBonaFide
Summary: The pair meet Euryale (Medusa’s sister) in a cave and Arthur gets turned to stone while trying to protect Merlin. Can he stay alive and return Arthur back to human form?





	Euryale

**Author's Note:**

> This is really kinda all over the place. Euryale is a gorgon (one of Medusa’s sisters). The characters I wrote for Medusa’s history have changed names so that it kinda fits with the Merlin time period. 
> 
> We’re also gonna pretend that Medusa’s got the same punishment as her (snake hair) because they’re as beautiful as she is.
> 
> This is a little complex I guess - feel free to comment if you don’t understand something :)

Magic: known  
Relationship: established 

• • •

"Ugh, Merlin. You don't know what you do to me." Arthur sighs against Merlin's neck. 

Currently, Arthur has Merlin pinned on top of a rather flat rock in a cave below Camelot. They had snuck out for a picnic away from the castle. With Uther still king, they have no choice but to sneak around. The cave is well lit due to the torches that were installed before the pair got there. Having eaten the food, they thought it due time for a make-out session. 

Merlin tangles his hands in Arthur's golden hair, pulling gently every so often. He moans as Arthur sucks on his neck, it's so pleasurable he never wants to let go of the prince. He's just glad he has neckerchiefs to cover up what the possessive man does. 

Eventually, Arthur's pushes their lips back together. One of his hands is cradling Merlin's head to make sure that it doesn't hit the hard rock. He knows it's rough by the scratches he can feel on the back of his hand. It's not like he cares, though, he is kissing the man of his dreams. Nothing can hurt him now. 

Slowly, Arthur's spare hand travels from Merlin's side and down his belly. It grazes softly along the trail of hair and stops at the top of Merlin's waistband. "Do you—," Arthur starts, pausing to kiss Merlin again. "Mind if I...?" 

Merlin takes in Arthur's expression. It's so soft and pure, but the suave smirk plastered on top of it changes the meaning entirely. Arthur, with his kissed-out lips and his messy hair, looks completely blissed out. Arthur always tells him that he is happiest when kissing him; Merlin believes it. His eyes have a sort of far off look to them - a drunken stare, really - where they're not entirely focused. The way that Merlin's eyes switch from blurry to clear every few seconds, he assumes he looks the same.

Merlin can postulate what Arthur is reckoning. He takes Arthur's wrist gently and stops it, pulling back to look into his boyfriend's eyes. "I... Can we not? I'm still a bit sore from yesterday." He admits. For as long as he has been with Arthur, he has known him to be understanding - he knows this is invariable.

Arthur dips his head to rub their noses together. "Of course, Love." He whispers oh-so quietly into his ear. "As long as you feel comfortable." They smile at each other. "Is... Kissing okay?" He whispers again.

Merlin brings Arthur's head to his again and moans. For the whole ten seconds Arthur's lips were gone from his, he missed them from the bottom of his heart. He moves his hands to Arthur's chest to feel the overworked pectoral muscles. He slips his hands under the lip of Arthur's tunic to touch them fully. Arthur continues to touch up and down Merlin's side, accidentally pushing more weight onto the boy through his enrapture.

A sizzle-like sound distracts Merlin for a moment and his stilled lips are enough to stop Arthur. "Do you hear... Hissing?" Merlin whispers to him.

Arthur lets go of Merlin's craned head gently and pushes himself up slightly. They hear it again and Arthur exclaims, "Snakes!"

Arthur stands and draws his sword in a flash and just as it reaches its apex in the air, Merlin glimpses the face of a gorgon in the glint of the metal. 

"Arthur, no!" Merlin cries, he lurches up to cover Arthur's eyes but his hand lands on cold, hard stone.

He looks towards the statue of his boyfriend and gasps. His frozen face is one of set determination. Merlin frowns, he's read about the gorgons. The statues are always frozen in terror, it's not documented for anyone to have a different expression. He moves to stand in front of this stone version of his boyfriend in wonderment. He takes his face in his hands, completely forgetting about the woman behind him.

"Why do you feel sad? He was assaulting you." The voice is silky, tempting. He feels it on the back of his neck. He rests his forehead in Arthur's neck and coils his arms around his waist. 

The temptation compels him to turn around and look at her. Curling himself into Arthur prevents him from acting on the urge and is also a little comforting. He's never really been this close to a being in folklore he's read about.

"Arthur is my boyfriend. He didn't assault me." Merlin explains, knowing that she is trying to imply that Arthur was going to rape him. "He would never do that to anyone."

"He was forcing you into something didn't want to do." Her voice is different; something close to sympathetic. "Boyfriend or not, he had no right." Her snakes sibilate cordially in his ear.

"We were only kissing." Merlin thinks over the situation, a light blush covering his cheeks. "He asked if I was comfortable with going further, I said no so we kept kissing."

"Nonsense! He was forcing himself upon you, you were merely trapped against the rock - helpless!" She cries. The snakes hiss loudly in an effort to back her up.

He decides to drop it, for now, she clearly isn't going to listen. "It is my understanding that you are either Euryale or Stheno." Merlin states. He closes his eyes firmly, even though they are tucked against Arthur. 

A cackle echoes throughout the cave. "I am Euryale. How do you know of my sister and I?" He can hear her circle around him so that she is standing behind Arthur's form.

Merlin smiles, "Oh, I've read a lot about you." He thinks over the book Gaius gave him about the gorgons. "I'm sorry about what happened to your sister. She didn't deserve what happened to her." He breaks, an overwhelming amount of sadness falling over him. "None of you deserved this curse."

In a second, he hears her outraged breathing displace his hair and feels a single snake slither across his neck. "You know nothing about the curse!" She hisses.

Merlin is scared. He doesn't have any backup, Arthur is technically not alive and Gaius has never actually spoken about how to defeat her. He squeezes Arthur's body tighter, shivering at the cold that presses against him.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to overstep." He apologises openly with true sorrow in his heart. "But I do know that Poseidineus raped Medusa and I do know that Athenine punished her for it and I do know that... That Perseusa killed her for it."

Poseidineus was a famous warrior, the handyman for a Queen. Athenine: the Queen of Olympiad. Perseusa was sent to kill Medusa as the Queen was jealous.

The snake withdraws from his neck and he hears a sigh that is further away from where her words were last.

"She was punished for being raped and then she was killed for protecting herself. For that, I am eternally sorry." He collects his nerves, trying to hold still. "You have to know that Arthur wasn't assaulting me. He asked me what I was comfortable with and I said kissing and that's what we did."

"I heard him ask to continue and I heard you say no." She states. "He was trapping you against that rock." The snakes curve against each other making a kind of soapy sound.

"I guess we were really quiet," Merlin explains. "Look, I promise you that he was being the perfect boyfriend. And I thank you graciously for the concern, but it isn't warranted." 

He lifts his head up smiling, opening his eyes - completely forgetting who he's talking to. His eyes are blurry, adjusting to the light after being tucked away into darkness for so long. He blearily recognises the dusty, sorrel walls.

As quickly as he opens them, he shuts them. He presses his face against Arthur's neck again and attempts to slow his hammering heart. That could have gone so fucking badly.

"You almost looked at me." A sweet silky voice whispers in his ear from behind him. The temptress seems to fall back into bad habits and catches herself. "I should go. I'm sorry about your boyfriend."

"It's okay. Thank you." Merlin whispers.

Merlin can hear her retreat back into the shadows, as her steps fade away. Now, is the matter of turning his boyfriend back. In the back of his head are some rememberings of a spell. When he used it in a competition that Arthur was entering. And he had to reanimate... Snakes! It's been a while since he has to perform that spell, but he remembers the desperation to save Arthur.

"Berbay odothay arisan quicken!" He whispers in Arthur's ear, still holding tight to the stone body.

As, when Arthur was solidified his form was poised to fight, he is surprised to find Merlin in his arms clinging onto him tightly. "Um..." He murmurs. "Hello?" He sheaths his sword and squeezes Merlin tight to his chest.

"You were turned to stone," Merlin says into his neck. "It's okay, she's gone." He's calm now that he has Arthur back.

A surge of anger rushes through Arthur's body, thrilling his nerves. "Did she hurt you?" His voice is set, stony like he had been just a few seconds ago.

"No," Merlin replies quickly. "She just thought you were taking advantage of me."

"Oh god, Merlin. I—," Arthur lets go of his servant and backs away. "Did I?"

"No!" The warlock cries. "God no!" He rushes back to Arthur's chest and squeezes him like a boa constrictor. "You would never do that."

The prince sighs in relief, curling his arms around his boyfriend again.


End file.
